Processing facilities (or industrial facilities) are often managed using process control systems also known as control and instrumentation (C&I) systems. Processing facilities can include manufacturing plants, chemical plants, crude oil refineries, ore processing plants, and paper or pulp manufacturing plants referred to herein as an integrated industrial control system (IICS). These industries typically use continuous processes and fluid processing and/or batch processing. The control system(s) typically manage the use of motors, valves, sensors, gauges and other industrial equipment in the processing facilities. A manufacturing plant or refinery may use one or more distributed control systems (DCS), programmable logic controls (PLC), safety system and applications for controlling different processes.
An IICS comprises multiple subsystems such as process, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), safety, alarm management, human machine interface (HMI), operations, asset management, user management, and operator stations. These subsystems can be from several different manufacturers and vendors. These subsystems can be tightly integrated through cross platform or entity associations and references. The entities can comprise tags\points, alarms, assets, HMI elements and users. For example a tag present in a first process subsystem (such as a SCADA subsystem) can be the driving input or output to or from another tag in a second process subsystem (such as a safety subsystem). Each subsystem can have their own individual tools which manage these entities. Examples of these tools include process control configuration tools provided by Honeywell International such as the CONTROL BUILDER, QUICK BUILDER, HMI DISPLAY BUILDER in EXPERION, SAFETY BUILDER TOOL for safety subsystems, and other vendor specific configuration and management tools.